BJP members refuse to give CM recording of NDMC meeting

The BJP-majority in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Monday decided not to give the recording of a council meeting held in February to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had demanded the recording before signing the minutes of the meeting.

Special meeting

During a special meeting called by the five BJP members — vice-chairperson Karan Singh Tanwar, New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi, and members Anita Arya, Abdul Rasheed Ansari and B.S. Bhati — the Council decided against releasing the recording to Mr. Kejriwal, who is the New Delhi MLA.

“He [Mr. Kejriwal] wanted to misuse the audio to make the BJP look bad or to blackmail us. He could have publicly released carefully selected portions of the discussion. There is no provision in the NDMC Act or the business regulations to allow this,” said Mr. Tanwar.

He added that the Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party MLA for Delhi Cantonment Surender Singh, who is also an NDMC member, had registered their dissent against the decision of the majority. A source close to the Chief Minister added that Mr. Kejriwal will submit a written dissent that will be added to the minutes of the meeting.

April 5 letter

In a letter on April 5, Mr. Kejriwal had asked the NDMC to give him the recording of the February 3 council meeting so he could sign the minutes of the meeting. He wrote that the NDMC Secretary had told him the recording could not be provided due to objection by Mr. Ansari.

Mr. Tanwar said that Mr. Kejriwal, who is the presiding officer of the council meeting, had refused to sign the minutes of the last three meetings. The source close to Mr. Kejriwal said the Chief Minister will not sign on the minutes without the recording, alleging that the contents differed from what had transpired.

Mr. Tanwar, however, said Mr. Kejriwal had not yet specified if there were any problems with the minutes, but had refused to sign them.